Damn.
I promised myself I wouldn't do this.
It's
been a while since I posted anything on Lloyd of Gamebooks. The last few posts I wrote were back in the 2015 Summer of Gamebook Kickstarters (remember those heady days?), and each one of them was
to promote various interactive fiction books or apps. Oh, they were
all in earnest – I really was excited about those projects. But
they all came down to selling something, nonetheless.
And
yet, what has always most appealed to me about this excellent blog
that Stuart Lloyd has created is its, and his, honest adoration of
gamebooks – the geeky fanboy element, if you will, a category under
which I would also class myself. When Stuart first asked if I'd be
interested in contributing to this blog, I wanted to respect that
honesty – I intended my posts on Lloyd of Gamebooks to be first and
foremost about discussing the gamebooks that I loved, old and new,
and not merely a means of hawking my own wares. And yet, by the end
of Summer 2015, I'd used this blog to do a lot of promo. It was about
time I returned to my starry-eyed fanboy roots, and got back to
talking about apps and gamebooks that I loved on their own merits,
rather than because I had a dog in that particular race.
With
that proviso in mind, I'm about to tell you how amazing my newest
gamebook app is, and then I'm going to tell you where you can buy it.
It
helps that I can be sincerely effusive – that I am enormously
invested in this app I've been working on for about two years, which
is probably the best thing I've ever written. Is it distasteful, even
vulgar, for a writer to so brazenly market his or her own work? It
shouldn't be. Particularly in this growing climate of ebookery and
self-publishing. Particularly too in the interactive fiction sphere,
which is still a niche domain, peopled by indie publishers and even
indie-er writers. Oh, you can find a few giants who are still
republishing Fighting Fantasy books, if you step outside the English
language. But even they show no interest in breaking new ground. If
we, as emerging writers, aren't prepared to market our own work, who
will?
Bref,
as the French say when they want to change the subject. Let's talk
about MetaHuman, Inc.
MetaHuman, Inc. is an interactive fiction story in which you play as CEO of a
nebulous corporation that specialises in creating Enhancements –
superhuman abilities, for sale to the highest bidder. You must
navigate the tribulations of the business world – recruiting and
managing staff, say; prioritising Enhancement projects and building
the resources necessary to handle them – while striving to raise
your company's share price as high as possible. Because, should it
fall too low by the end of the year, MetaHuman's shareholders won't
be pleased. And they aren't the kind of preternatural beings that you
want to have displeased with you.
Yes,
MetaHuman, Inc. is a tale of corporate dealings and treachery. But it
is also a tale of sorcerous powers and bleeding-edge technologies –
and the consequences and responsibilities of integrating such
modern-day miracles into your own body. As you govern the fortunes of
MetaHuman Incorporated, you'll face mercenary psychics, and fiery
creatures out of Arabian myth. Worst of all, when the
extraterrestrial parasites known as the Surgeons attempt to gain
dominion over the planet Earth, you must decide what role MetaHuman
will play in repelling this incursion – or whether you wish to help
the aliens, in the hope of gaining immense power.
In
terms of game mechanics, Choice of Games, this app's publisher, has a
track record of steering away from the clean-cut 'skills' that you
would find in RPGs – 'You're good at this skill, you aren't so good
at this...' – and preferring variables that reflect a degree of
nuance on the player's part. And so, here you can play as a CEO
displaying Ruthlessness or Compassion, one who shows a great deal of
Candor or Guile. Publicly misbehave, and your company's Image will
suffer, unless you can put a good spin on things. You can try to keep
morale high amongst your staff – or you can bully and intimidate
them into good behaviour. As mentioned, your company's Share Price is
paramount, and it's a good idea to build up the Resources necessary
to develop the really high-level Enhancements.
Ah
yes, the Enhancements, the bread and butter of MetaHuman
Incorporated. These are, essentially, superpowers-for-sale, and the
key to building up a good company profile. You can direct your
company towards focusing on magical or hi-tech research, Witchery or
Superscience; most Enhancements fall within one domain or the other,
though a few walk the line between the two extremes. In writing this
game, I wanted to shy away from including 'classic' superpowers –
and so you won't find super-strength, or the ability to fly listed
amongst MetaHuman's potential projects. Instead, you may be able to
develop Heightened Legerity, Hex of the Arc Savant, Technopathy,
Psi-activator, Probability Filter, and a bunch of others. And, yes,
if your company develops these abilities, you, as CEO, get first
taste of the finished product.
And
the game is big. It's about 260,000 words long, in total. Word count
in apps can be a bit misleading – maybe 15% of that word count is
coding rather than content. Plus, when comparing an app and a
dead-tree book, in an app it's far easier to copy and paste a chunk
of text, editing for continuity; do that, and that's a big brick of
words that you have to count twice. Still, you've got maybe the
equivalent of three Fighting Fantasy books crammed into this app.
When you buy MetaHuman, Inc. you get your money's worth, any way you
look at it.
It's
an added bonus that I love, love, love the game's cover art, by Paul Guinan. My one-line brief for that was along the lines of, 'I think
the app's cover should be MetaHuman's company logo – something
suitably sinister.' The final cover, up at the top of this page, is really fantastic. Thanks for
that, CoG, and Paul Guinan in particular.
I
hope you enjoy it. And, once again, please excuse me for using this
space to sell my stuff.
(Post
by Paul Gresty)
